A consumer value approach to a holistic understanding of the winery experience

Abstract

Purpose The present study is part of a joint effort to gain a holistic understanding of the consumption experience. This paper aims to understand the essence of the winery experience through a better characterisation of the latter because of the consumer value approach and to define the main cultural differences between the Old World and the New World in this respect. Design/methodology/approach The authors felt that netnography offered the most suitable qualitative method to capture the meaning of a winery experience in an international context. To this end, we collected 3,065 original tourist reviews for 35 wineries, written from January 2015 to June 2016. Findings The findings suggest that a winery experience is made up of the following values: “hedonic”, “economic”, “social” and “legacy”. In addition, the results indicate that social and legacy values are more important for the Old World, while the New World tends to put more emphasis on economic and hedonic values. Practical implications Wineries need to deliver experiences that encourage tourists to explore what their enterprise has to offer. Given the importance of the customer experience to trigger wine purchases and positive word-of-mouth to promote brand loyalty, the findings can help winery managers to adapt their services in consequence. Originality/value Few studies have applied a consumer value approach or used netnography to examine tourists’ experiences from a cross-cultural perspective.